1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printing control apparatus capable of controlling a screen display within a printer driver using information set while the printer driver is installed.
2. Description of the Related Art
There exists a technique to control a screen display of an application by using information set by an installer while installing the application. For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-306736 discusses a technique in which information to the effect that a user has accepted a license agreement for an application is stored and the information on the accepted license agreement is used in later processing of the application to control a screen display. Further, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2009-289201 discusses a technique in which in an integrated installer that sequentially calls up a plurality of standalone installers, each of the plurality of standalone installers controls a screen display using information set by the integrated installer.
The aforementioned techniques can be realized through a configuration in which an installer stores information obtained during installation into a file or a storage device and an application refers to the information stored in the file or the storage device.
However, in a relationship between a printer driver and an installer, a problem arises when the printer driver refers to the information stored by the installer. This is because, unlike a typical application that presupposes installation using an installer, the printer driver can be installed without using an installer.
Specifically, the following issues may arise. When, for example, a printer driver is installed using an installer, information stored by the installer remains in an information processing apparatus. When the printer driver is installed after that to overwrite existing installation without using the installer, normally, if the installer is not used, information to be stored by the installer is not stored in the information processing apparatus. However, since the installer has been used during previous installation, the information stored previously by the installer is retained. This results in a state where the printer driver installed without using the installer can use the information stored by the installer during previous installation. Accordingly, a problem arises in that the printer driver installed without using the installer mistakenly uses the information that is retained in the information processing apparatus. In particular, if information indicating that a user's approval has been obtained (e.g., accepted license agreement information) is mistakenly used, the accepted license agreement information may be applied to a scope where the user's approval is not obtained.